Basketball return system

ABSTRACT

Basketball return apparatus ( 10 ) for use with a basketball goal ( 12 ) and which is easily moved to return a ball to a shooter in any of many different locations with respect to the basketball goal. A lightweight frame ( 16 ) supports a net ( 18 ) surrounding a basketball goal ( 12 ) and is arranged to direct a ball into a ball return chute ( 52 ) which can be moved to be close to a shooter. Sensors are arranged to detect and count shots that pass through the goal and to count all shots that are made, and a display device ( 106 ) may be set to show the shooter&#39;s score and percentage of successful shots made. A sensor ( 124 ) is utilized in one embodiment to follow a signaling device ( 126 ) carried by a shooter and a system is provided to drive the ball return apparatus in azimuth angle (α) and amount of extension of the ball return chute ( 52 ) so as to follow a shooter.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a basketball return device, and more particularly to a basketball return device which can be adjusted to return the ball to a player at different distances and angles from the front of a basketball goal, and which can be used to keep track of the accuracy of a shooter.

BACKGROUND ART

Various basketball return devices have been in use for a number of years. Typically, such devices include nets which may partially surround a basketball goal and can direct a basketball that was shot at the goal into a return chute. In many cases, the ball return chute can be moved to return the ball to a shooter in any of various positions with respect to the basketball goal.

In some basketball return devices there are sensors to count shots made and displays to provide feedback with respect to the accuracy of shooting.

Known basketball return devices occupy a significant amount of space, both on the basketball court and when in storage. Possibly because of the large size, such apparatus is not very commonly used for training purposes by basketball teams, and is more frequently found set up for individual entertainment in carnivals and fairs, where a customer pays to take a number of shots and the ball return device returns the ball to the shooter or to the operator of the entertainment.

While some previously known basketball return apparatuses are movable to return a ball to a shooter in any of various locations with respect to the basketball goal, they are not able to be moved quickly to allow a shooter to shoot at a basketball goal from various successive positions and still have a ball returned to the shooter. Also, they are not conveniently movable to allow a shooter to take shots from one location and have a ball returned to a different location without a significant delay time, making shooting practice less efficient than is desired.

What is desired, then, is a basketball return apparatus that can be moved quickly and frequently or even continuously to allow a shooter to attempt successive shots from several different positions within a short time and without requiring the shooter to move back and forth between the ball return apparatus and a position from which a shot is desired to be made. Ideally, such a basketball return apparatus should be easy to erect and install on, or remove from, a basketball goal and should be easily collapsed and placed into a small enough package to be conveniently transported, yet should be able to be set up quickly and easily to be used.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The apparatus described herein provides answers to some of the aforementioned shortcomings of previously known basketball return apparatus.

In one embodiment, a ball return apparatus as disclosed herein is easily attached to or removed from a basketball goal and can be folded into a compact package that is easily transported, by virtue of the structure of the ball return apparatus being easily separable into several slender portions which can be placed generally parallel with one another without becoming disorganized and difficult to reassemble properly.

In an embodiment incorporating another aspect of the disclosed apparatus, wheels supporting a part of the apparatus may be driven by motors to move the apparatus as desired through an azimuth angle about a basketball goal.

In one embodiment, a motor is arranged to move a ball return chute to a selected position of extension or retraction toward or away from the basketball goal.

In one embodiment as disclosed herein, motors may be controlled to cause the basketball return apparatus to follow a shooter's movements automatically, so as to return a basketball that has been shot to a shooter moving about the basketball court.

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of several embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a basketball return apparatus that is an embodiment of one aspect of the present invention, taken from one side of a user end of the apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the basketball return apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an isometric view, at an enlarged scale, of a portion of the goal end of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, showing a clamp and a swivel useful in connecting the apparatus to a basketball goal.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view, at an enlarged scale, of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, at the shooter end of the frame, and showing a ball retarder.

FIG. 4A is a sectional detail view, at an enlarged scale, of one type of connection between adjacent elongate sections of the frame.

FIG. 4B is a partially cutaway detail view, at an enlarged scale, of another type of connection between adjacent elongate sections of the frame.

FIG. 4C is a detail partial cutaway view, at an enlarged scale, of yet another type of connection between adjacent portions of the frame.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 1, at an enlarged scale, showing an exemplary detent system for adjusting the height of a portion of the apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of a ball return chute portion of a basketball return apparatus that is another embodiment of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 7 is a somewhat schematic view, at an enlarged scale, of a detail of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 related to extension and retraction of the ball return chute.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing an alternative drive arrangement for extension and retraction of the ball return chute.

FIG. 9 is a front elevational view of an upper portion of a basketball goal on which is mounted a clamp for supporting the basketball return apparatus that is an alternative to the clamp illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 10 is a rear elevational view of the clamp shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is an isometric view taken from the right rear of the basketball goal and clamp shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.

FIG. 12 is a side elevational view of the basketball goal and clamp shown in FIGS. 9-11.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings which form a part of the disclosure herein, in FIGS. 1 and 2 a basketball return apparatus 10 is shown attached to a basketball goal 12 supported by a post 14.

The basketball return apparatus 10 includes a frame 16 supporting a net 18 that may extend behind the backboard 20 of the basketball goal 12 and extends out from the basketball goal 12 in two side portions 22 and 24 that may be parallel and spaced apart from one another by a distance 26 of, for example, 6 feet. The frame 16 may have a generally rectangular goal end 28 associated with the basketball goal. The goal end 28 may include a horizontal transverse member 30 located beneath the lower edge of the backboard 20, as well as another transverse member located above the top of the backboard 20.

A swivel 32 that has a vertical pivot axis is attached to the top of the transverse member 30, and an upper member of the swivel 32 may be attached to the backboard 20, by a clamp assembly 34. The goal end 28 is thus supported by and attached to the basketball goal 12 in a manner that will allow the basketball return apparatus 10 to be moved through an azimuth angle α about the basketball goal 12, as will be explained in greater detail presently.

For example, as shown best in FIG. 3, a clamp assembly 34 may grip a bottom edge of the backboard 20, so that the swivel 32, depending from the clamp assembly 34, in turn, supports the goal end 28 of the basketball return apparatus 10. The clamp assembly 34, as shown herein, is attached to the upper member of the swivel 32, and may include a pair of clamps mounted at outer ends of a bar 33 attached to the swivel 32 and whose jaws are adapted to grasp the lower edge of the backboard of the basketball goal and to rest, for example, upon a rearwardly extending flange of the backboard 20 to support the goal end 28 of the frame 16. A bar 35 preferably interconnects the handles of the clamps so that a person can open both clamps together by grasping the bar with one hand, or by utilizing a long-handled gripper, such as those used in grocery stores and libraries to retrieve objects from high shelves, to reach up and open the clamps.

The parallel side portions 22 and 24 extend away from the goal end 28 for a distance of, for example, 8 feet, to a player or shooter end 36 of the frame 16, and upright end members 38 and 40 of the side portions 22 and 24 may be interconnected by transverse horizontal frame members 42.

A pair of parallel elongate members 44 and 46 extend from the transverse lower frame member 30 at the goal end 28 of the frame 16 to an outlet gateway 48 defined by members of the frame 16 in the lower part of the shooter end 36 of the frame 16. The parallel elongate members 44 and 46 are located at equal heights and spaced apart from each other by a distance 50 of, for example, 7.5 inches. This allows them to act as a guiding pair of rails along which a basketball can roll within the enclosure defined by the frame 16 and the net 18, toward and through the gateway 48 into a ball return chute 52 extending out from the player or shooter end 36 of the frame 16. Adjacent parts of the net 18 are attached to the structural members defining the gateway 48.

While the frame 16 is shown as supporting a net 18 of large mesh design, preferred because it does not obstruct visibility of the player or shooter, it will be understood that another lightweight, strong, and transparent fabric might be used instead.

In one embodiment of the basketball return apparatus 10, the frame 16 and ball return chute 52 may be of light, elongate members such as resiliently flexible yet stiff fiber-reinforced resin rod or tube sections 56, 58, 60, and 62 mated with each other as shown in detail, for example, in FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C, so that the frame 16 is light, yet rigid. For example, such sections may be tubes reinforced by Kevlar® fiber or glass fiber similar to those used in fishing rods or portable camping tents. Alternatively, other materials could be used, such as aluminum or other light-weight metal, bamboo, or other light-weight wood.

In the basketball return apparatus 10, elongate frame members 56, etc. while easily separable from their assembled mated relationships with one another, be securely, or even adjustably, mated with each other by connectors 64, 66, and 70, of various types, selected to be compatible with the design of the elongate members, 56, 58, etc., and of which examples are shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the adjacent ends of the elongate frame members may be mated in the manner used to interconnect flexible frame rods or tubes of backpacking tents, with an end of one elongate segment surrounded by a short end socket portion of an adjacent elongate segment when the apparatus is assembled and erected. An end socket portion of each segment may be provided as a molded socket portion to receive an end portion of an adjacent segment, either by enlarging or providing a larger internal diameter in an end portion of one segment or by reducing the exterior diameter of an end portion of a segment.

Alternatively, a socket 66 as shown in FIG. 4B may be formed by attachment of a tubular metal ferrule 67 or the like to an end of an elongate frame segment.

Adjacent segments may also be attached to one another by various flexible interconnecting members to keep the segments ready to be mated with each other end-to-end in the proper orientation and order. For example, elastic “bungee” cords 68 may extend longitudinally within and through two or more elongate tubular frame member segments intended to be mated with one another when the ball return apparatus 10 is erected.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4C, elongate segments 16A, 16B of the frame 16 may be telescopically slidable within one another, and a connector 70 may be used to hold the segments 16A, 16B together at desired degrees of extension with respect to one another. Connections may be provided for the frame members to be telescoped or disassembled into segments whose lengths are no greater than 38 inches, to provide a conveniently portable package.

Extending away from the frame 16 and the gateway 48, the ball return chute 52 includes a pair of parallel elongate side members or rails 72 and 74 that may be constructed similarly to the frame 16. The side members 72 and 74 extend away from the gateway 48 at equal heights, in the direction away from the goal end 28, to a player or shooter end 82 of the ball return chute 52.

A main support assembly 76 rests on the basketball court surface near the goal 12 and supports the adjacent part of the ball return chute 52 near the shooter end 36 of the frame 16. A pair of parallel uprights 78 extend to and support the side members 72 and 74 and may be interconnected with each other by a short horizontal member 80 which maintains the spacing between the side rails 72 and 74 so that the ball return chute 52 can reliably guide a basketball to the near, or shooter, end 82 of the ball return chute 52 and the basketball return apparatus 10. The uprights 78 are preferably adjustable in height, such as by including inner and outer portions telescopically slidable with respect to each other. The uprights 78 with such construction can be maintained at a selected height by, for example, a spring-loaded detent system 84 such as that shown in FIG. 5. The main support assembly 76 may thus be disposed at a selected height that may be adjusted by engagement of the detents 84 in a selected one of a series of vertically apart-spaced holes 86 in the lower portions of the main support assembly.

The lower, outer, upright portions of the main support assembly 76 may be mounted on and extend upward from a horizontal bottom member 88 extending generally transversely with respect to the ball return chute 52. A respective wheel 90 is mounted at each of the opposite ends of the horizontal bottom member 88, with the axis of rotation 92 of each wheel extending approximately parallel with the rails 72 and 74 of the ball return chute 52, and thus extending radially toward the pivot axis of the swivel 32. Movement of the basketball return apparatus 10 through an azimuth angle α about the basketball goal will thus be accommodated by the wheels 90 as they roll along the surface of a basketball court as the goal end 28 of the apparatus 10 pivots about the swivel 32.

The player, or shooter, end 82 of the ball return chute 52 includes a shooter end support assembly 94, similar to the main support assembly 76. The height of the shooter end support assembly 94 may be adjusted in a manner similar to that described above for varying the height of the main support assembly, so that a ball on the ball return chute 52 is at a convenient height for a player using the basketball return assembly 10. Since the shooter end support assembly 94 may have to be moved, either in a radial direction or a circumferential direction, during use of the basketball return assembly 10, a caster wheel 96 is provided at each end of the horizontal bottom support member 98 of the shooter end support assembly 94.

The side rails 72 and 74 of the ball return chute 52 are adjustable in length, as by having segments of a smaller diameter telescopically received within one another, and may be extended, in one embodiment of the apparatus, to place the shooter end 82 of the ball return chute 52 at a selected distance 100, such as just inside the three-point line of a basketball court. Alternatively, the ball return chute 52 may be retracted, or shortened toward the gateway 48 so that the shooter end 82 of the ball return chute 52 is just inside the foul line. In the embodiment of the apparatus 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, clamping connectors in the telescoping side rails 72 and 74 of the ball return chute 52, such as the connector 70 shown in FIG. 4C, may be tightened with the ball return chute 52 at a selected length.

A basketball that has been shot at the goal 12 will be retained by the net 18 supported by the frame 16, and can then roll along the parallel elongate bottom frame members 46 and 48 to pass out from the space defined by the net 18, through the gateway 48 into the ball return chute 52, but a ball retarder 54 mounted in the gateway 48 keeps the ball from escaping at too great a speed. The ball retarder 54 may, for example, be as simple as several depending strips of flexible plastics sheet material attached to an upper frame member of the gateway 48 as shown, or may be one or more rigid finger-like members mounted on springs. The ball retarder is intended merely to slow movement of a ball rolling down the bottom support members 44 and 46 of the frame 16 enough so that the ball will then roll along the ball return chute 52 toward the shooter end 82 at a reasonable speed without being likely to fall off the ball return chute 52.

A suitable sensor such as a simple finger-like lever 102 may be attached to a switch as shown in FIG. 4, so that a ball rolling through the ball retarder opening will move the lever 102 and thus momentarily operate the switch to count each ball as it is returned to a shooter, as will be explained in greater detail below.

A socket 104 may be mounted on the horizontal member 33 of the clamp assembly 34, in order to hold a sensor (not shown) in a position close to the net of the basketball goal 12, so that the sensor can detect a ball that has successfully passed through the goal, and send a signal to a control system to count a successful shot.

It may be seen in FIGS. 1 and 4 that a display device 106 such as an LCD screen panel may be mounted on the top of the transverse member establishing the top of the gateway 48 through which balls travel out from within the net 18 to the ball return chute 52.

Referring to FIGS. 6, 7, and 8, it may be seen that in a basketball return apparatus which is another embodiment of the device disclosed herein, at least one, or both of the wheels may be arranged to be driven by one or more azimuth drive motors 108 mounted on the horizontal member and controlled by a suitable control system 112 that may include, for example, a remote control device. Such motors may, as is well known, be provided with suitable speed reduction drives to provide ample torque and power without excessive size and weight.

A control system 112 may include a suitably programmed digital central processing unit housed, for example, in the display unit 106 at the shooter end 36 of the frame 16. Such a control system may utilize signals from sensors such as the switch on the lever 102, or a suitable sensor mounted in the socket 104 on the goal 12 to keep score for the shooter. The control system 112, in one embodiment, may be programmed to be responsive to signals detected by a shooter position sensor 124 mounted on the shooter end support assembly 94 and able to determine the direction of and the distance to a signaling device 126 that may be carried by a person such as a basketball shooter 128 utilizing the ball return apparatus 110. The control system 112 thus can determine whether the shooter is shooting from beyond the three-point line as the shooter 128 moves around a basketball goal and shoots at the goal from different azimuth angles α and different distances from the basketball goal 12.

To facilitate use of such a system with the shooter 128 moving toward or away from the goal 12, a ball return chute extension motor 116 may be mounted on one or each of the side rails 72 and 74 of the ball return chute 52 and arranged to drive, for example, a pinion gear 118 engaged with a rack 120 on an exterior surface of one of the side rails, as shown in FIG. 6 and in enlarged detail in FIG. 7, to extend or retract the shooter end 82 of the ball return chute 52 with respect to the shooter end 36 of the frame 16. A somewhat different drive for extension and retraction of the ball return chute 52 is shown in FIG. 8, where a pair of wheels 130 and 132, one driven by the motor 116 and the other urged toward it by a spring arrangement (not shown) may include a peripheral groove 134 to receive one of the side members 72, 74 of the ball return chute 52 and engage it with sufficient friction to extend or retract the ball return chute 52. Other various drive systems could also be used.

When the sensor 124 detects the direction and the distance to the signaler 126 carried by the shooter 128, the control unit 112 calculates whether and how far the motors 90 should drive the wheels mounted on the main support assembly 76 to move the basketball return assembly to a different azimuth angle α with respect to the basketball goal 12. The control system 112 may also compute whether and how far the motor 116 should extend or retract the shooter end 82 of the ball return chute 52 so that a ball returning along the ball chute 52 is within easy reach of the shooter 128 as the shooter moves about the basketball court to practice shooting from different angles and different distances with respect to the goal 12. Suitable control signal wires, power conductors, and battery power supplies (not shown) for the motors may be carried, for example, on the main support assembly 76. Signals from the sensor 124 and the sensors at the goal 12 and the gateway 48 may be provided wirelessly to the control system 112 using known technology such as that used in computer remote controls or mobile telephones, for example.

Referring now to FIGS. 9-12, instead of using the clamp assembly 34 shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the basketball return apparatus 10 disclosed above may be attached movably to the backboard 20 of a basketball goal 12 using a mounting apparatus 140. The mounting apparatus 140 includes a socket 142 that may simply be an upwardly open end of a short length of pipe in which a pivot member 144, extending downwardly from the upper horizontal frame member of the goal end 28 of the basketball return apparatus 10 (as may be seen in FIG. 1) may be received, allowing the basketball return apparatus 10 to pivot around a vertical axis centered in the socket 142, as the shooter end 82 is moved along an arc to make a returned ball available to a shooter.

The mounting apparatus 140 includes a pair of downwardly open channels 146, 148, one at each side, that may be made of a suitable, strong material, such as aluminum alloy sheet stock. The channels 146 and 148 rest on an upper edge 150 of the backboard 20 portion of a basketball goal 12. While the backboard 20 is shown in FIGS. 9-12 as having a straight, horizontal, upper edge 150, the channels 146, 148 may include laterally inner portions 152, 154 that are upwardly inclined at a small angle, so as to be able to fit conveniently along a curved top edge of a basketball goal with an oval backboard (not shown).

Downwardly-extending rear side portions 160 of the channels 146, 148 are interconnected by a laterally-extending rear side member 162 which may be a flat plate of similar material and may be welded to the rear side portions, or formed integrally with them, establishing a spacing between them and keeping them oriented parallel with each other. Also attached to the rear side member 162 and to the rear side portion 160 of each of the channels 146, 148 is a respective rearwardly-open U-shaped, vertically-extending oriented channel 164. A horizontal pivot axis 166 is defined by a pair of pins, such as respective bolts 168, extending horizontally from side to side, through coaxially aligned holes defined in each side of each of the channels 164.

The socket 142 is mounted on a horizontal support member 170, which may be a pipe of suitable material such as an aluminum alloy of suitable size and wall thickness with each of its opposite ends connected to the upper end of one of a pair of legs 172 mounted in the downwardly-extending channels and supported on the coaxial bolts 168 so as to be able to pivot around the horizontal pivot axis. Each of the legs 172 may be constructed as a pair of parallel plates, of a shape that may be seen best in FIG. 12, with upper ends of the plates connected with each other as by a short tube 173 fastened in turn to the horizontal support member 170. Intermediate parts of the plates may be joined by a suitable tube 174 through which a respective one of the bolts 168 extends, and the lower ends of the plates may be interconnected by a backboard contacting member 176. The backboard contacting member 176 may be a short length of pipe similar to the tube 173 and may extend parallel with the horizontal support member 170.

As seen best in FIG. 12, the horizontal support member 170 is located further rearward from the backboard 20 than is the horizontal pivot axis 166. As a result, the weight of the goal end 28 of the ball return apparatus 10 exerted on the socket 142 will cause the legs 172 to rotate in a clockwise direction, as seen in FIG. 12, tending to push the backboard contacting members 176 toward the rear side of the backboard 20 and thereby stabilize the mounting apparatus 140.

When the basketball return apparatus 10 is disconnected from the mounting apparatus 140, by raising its goal end 28 and removing the pivot member 144 from the socket 142, however, the mounting apparatus 140 can easily be removed from the backboard 20.

The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, it being recognized that the scope of the invention is defined and limited only by the claims which follow. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A basketball return apparatus for use with a basketball goal, comprising: (a) a frame arranged to support a flexible net, the frame having a goal end adapted to be removably attached to said basketball goal and a shooter end; (b) a ball return chute extending from said shooter end of said frame; (c) a main support member arranged to support the shooter end of the frame and a goal-end portion of the ball return chute; (d) a shooter end of the ball return chute including a shooter end support assembly, and the ball return chute being adjustably extensible from the shooter end of the frame, to place the shooter end of the ball return chute at a selected distance from the goal end of the frame; and wherein (e) the frame and the ball return chute each comprise a plurality of elongate members interconnected with one another and easily disconnected from one another to place the basketball return apparatus into a compact, portable configuration having a predetermined maximum dimension.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein some of said elongate members of said frame and said ball return chute are of fiber-reinforced resin construction including mating connectors at respective ends thereof and wherein adjacent ones of said elongate members are interconnected with one another by an elongate elastic member.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 including a swivel attached to a transversely oriented one of said elongate members of the frame, located at the goal end of the frame, and including a clamp attached to the swivel, the clamp being adapted to grasp a basketball goal and to securely, yet removably, attach the goal end of the frame of the basketball return apparatus to the basketball goal.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein some of said elongate members of said frame are of tubular construction and are telescopically nested within one another.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4 including a clamp adjustably holding one of said nested elongate members in a selected position with respect to another.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 including a ball retarder at the shooter end of the frame, the ball retarder being arranged to slow a ball as it exits from the net and to allow a single ball at a time to pass from the net into the ball return chute at an acceptable speed.
 7. A basketball return apparatus for use with a basketball goal, comprising: (a) a frame arranged to support a flexible net, the frame having a goal end removably attachable to said basketball goal and a shooter end; (b) a ball return chute extending from said shooter end of said frame; (c) a main support member arranged to support the shooter end of the frame and a goal-end portion of the ball return chute; (d) a shooter end of the ball return chute including a shooter end support assembly, and the ball return chute being adjustably extensible with respect to the shooter end of the frame, to place the shooter end of the ball return chute at a selected distance from the goal end of the frame; and including (e) a swivel located at said goal end of the frame, arranged to fasten the frame to the basketball goal; (f) a pair of main wheels mounted on the main support member for rotation about respective wheel axes oriented radially with respect to the swivel; and (g) a caster wheel supporting said shooter end support assembly, whereby said frame and said ball return chute are movable together through an azimuth angle about the basketball goal, centered on the swivel.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein some of said elongate members of said frame and said ball return chute are of fiber-reinforced resin construction including two mating tubular socket connectors at respective ends thereof and with adjacent ones of said elongate members interconnected with one another by an elongate elastic member.
 9. The apparatus of claim 7 further including a sensor, mounted on said frame at said goal end of said frame in such a position that said sensor can determine when a basketball has passed through said basketball goal successfully to score a goal.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9 further including a display device mounted on said frame and responsive to said sensor so as to display an indication of a successful shot through the goal.
 11. The apparatus of claim 7 including a ball retarder at the shooter end of the frame, the ball retarder being arranged to slow a ball contained in the net and to allow a single ball to pass from the net into the ball return chute.
 12. The apparatus of claim 7 including a sensor located at the shooter end of the frame and arranged to count each ball that passes from the frame at the shooter end of the frame into the ball return chute.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12 further including a display device responsive to the sensor located at the shooter end of the frame and arranged to display the number of shots that have been attempted by a shooter.
 14. The apparatus of claim 7 including a display device arranged to show cumulatively the percentage of shots successfully made by a shooter.
 15. The apparatus of claim 7 further including an azimuth drive motor associated with one of said main wheels so as to drive said one of said main wheels selectively to move said apparatus through a selected azimuth angular distance about said swivel and said basketball goal.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15 further including a ball return chute extension motor arranged selectively to extend or retract said ball return chute with respect to the shooter end of the frame to place the shooter end of the ball return chute at a selected distance from the basketball goal.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16 including a portable signaling device arranged to be carried by a shooter, and a shooter position sensor associated with said shooter end of the ball return chute and responsive to a signal from the portable signaling device; and a controller arranged to receive a signal from the shooter position sensor and operative to control said azimuth drive motor and said ball return chute extension motor and thereby to cause said shooter end of said ball return chute to follow said portable signaling device.
 18. The apparatus of claim 15 including a portable signaling device to be worn by a shooter, and a shooter position sensor associated with said shooter end of the ball return chute and responsive to a signal from the portable signaling device; and a controller arranged to receive a signal from the shooter position sensor and operative to control said azimuth drive motor and thereby to cause said shooter end of said ball return chute to follow said portable signaling device.
 19. The apparatus of claim 17 further including a display device and wherein the controller includes a score calculation portion responsive to the portable signaling device worn by a shooter, the score calculation portion being arranged to give credit as the correct number of points for a successful shot depending on the shot distance as determined by the shooter position sensor. 